What influenced me during my elementary and middle school years? When I first read the assignment on the chart I thought about which specific teacher or school year had an impact on me. Interestingly, it was fifth grade. My teacher, for the first time ever, was a man. What a novelty! The word was that he was awesome, so I went into the year thrilled. He made us work hard, but my recollection was that there was a lot of fun. For so many topics we had to write a story centered around or using that topic. In math we learned place values through the trillions (I think!). Our assignment was to write a story with a specific number of numbers in it and they had to go into a certain place value. I'll never forget the story that had multiple 999,999,999,999, and the teachers reaction about the fourth time the number was read. Academically it was the first, and I'm quite positive the last, time I received straight As. I was so proud of myself and it really did inspire me to keep working hard to keep the grades there. My attitude was that if I could do it once, I could certainly do it again. That success kept me motivated for quite a long time. In retrospect, I think a bit of that was that although the teacher made us do a lot of work, he was not the hardest grader. Overall, I loved my fifth grade year.
Once I realized the question did not necessarily mean academics, another memory came flooding into my head. In that class there were some girls that were incredibly mean to another girl. I never understood why, but I knew that she was incredibly hurt. At once point all of our desks were together in one group and I witnessed the planning and execution of one of these incidents. It bothers me still that I didn't have the courage to speak up. However it wasn't the last time I watched incredible bullying go on. The next time we were in 7th grade. Again, I watched and couldn't understand why these girls were being so mean. The girl they were bullying was actually a part of their group until the bullying started, and it got so bad that she stopped coming to school for a while. Those incidents have haunted me for a long time. They seemed so uncalled for, random and excessive in my eyes. All I can really think of is why? I think if the girls who were doing the bullying were asked now why they did it, they either wouldn't remember the incidents or would have no explanation. Those incidents have affected me in so many ways, and I know they are a part of me when I am in schools. No human being should be treated that way. Not only do I try to model respect and kindness, but I try to teach the concepts and what they look like in any and every way I can.
Once I realized the question did not necessarily mean academics, another memory came flooding into my head. In that class there were some girls that were incredibly mean to another girl. I never understood why, but I knew that she was incredibly hurt. At once point all of our desks were together in one group and I witnessed the planning and execution of one of these incidents. It bothers me still that I didn't have the courage to speak up. However it wasn't the last time I watched incredible bullying go on. The next time we were in 7th grade. Again, I watched and couldn't understand why these girls were being so mean. The girl they were bullying was actually a part of their group until the bullying started, and it got so bad that she stopped coming to school for a while. Those incidents have haunted me for a long time. They seemed so uncalled for, random and excessive in my eyes. All I can really think of is why? I think if the girls who were doing the bullying were asked now why they did it, they either wouldn't remember the incidents or would have no explanation. Those incidents have affected me in so many ways, and I know they are a part of me when I am in schools. No human being should be treated that way. Not only do I try to model respect and kindness, but I try to teach the concepts and what they look like in any and every way I can.